Career fairs and networking events are a great opportunity to discover different industries and organizations and make connections in person. The Career Center hosts smaller industry-specific fairs and networking events to connect BC students with alumni and employers—find the details on Handshake.
2024 - 2025 Career Fairs and Networking Events
While both events provide an opportunity to network and make connections, a career fair is designed to help students make connections with recruiters who are seeking to fill full-time or internship roles. Networking events are more informational and designed to help students explore career fields of interest.
The Career Center hosts career and internship fairs to connect students directly with employers looking to recruit Boston College talent. We host smaller, industry-specific fairs throughout the academic year for students with targeted interests. You can find all career fairs listed in Handshake.
The Career Center hosts industry-specific networking events throughout the year to provide students the opportunity to explore career fields of interest, gain insight, make connections, and build their network. Below is a summary of major networking events. You can find all events listed in Handshake.
- Set goals: Knowing what you want to accomplish will help you stay focused at the event. Are you interested in learning more about a specific field or position? Are you hoping to connect with professionals from a specific organization? Think through your goals so that you feel prepared with a plan.
- Do your homework: If a list of attendees is available, make sure you read through it to understand with whom you’d like to connect. Do some research on persons/employers of interest so that you feel ready to converse with them.
- Practice your elevator pitch: An elevator pitch is a 30 second “personal commercial” detailing your interests and experience. An effective elevator pitch highlights your skills, qualifications, professional goals, and allows someone to connect with you over a shared interest. It also helps to end with a question to help lead into a conversation.
Example: I’m currently a junior at Boston College majoring in psychology and communication. I recently took a class on strategic communication, and am fascinated by the ways in which corporations communicate with their employees to create culture. I’m hoping to intern this summer in some sort of corporate communication role to get a sense of what that looks like as a career path. I read that you worked in internal communications at LL Bean. That sounds very interesting.Can you tell me more about your role within the organization and what your typical day looks like?
- Dress professionally: Business attire is recommended for career fairs, while business casual is often appropriate for networking events, employer information sessions, panel discussions, informational interviews, and other presentations.
- Start conversations: Remember your goals, approach people of interest, and start conversations with your elevator pitch.
- Listen: Try to focus on what the person is saying rather than thinking ahead to your next question. The information you learn from these types of conversations may help you clarify your interests in a specific field or may lead to opportunities.
- Request a business card: Ask if you can connect again after the event.
- Follow up: Send thank you emails to anyone you met within 24 hours. Try to personalize each message by referencing something specific you discussed.
- Track your interactions: keep a document detailing names and conversations you had so that you may reference it later on
